1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates in general to devices for dispensing and delivering fibrous material, and more particularly, but not by way of limitation, to apparatus and methods for dispensing and blowing fibrous material to a desired location.
2. Brief Description of the Prior Art
A wide variety of insulation materials are presently in use. These insulation materials include granulated rock wool, granulated mineral fiber wools, glass fiber materials such as fiberglass, cellulose fibers, expanded mica, and other fibrous materials. Dispensing and delivering these insulation materials to desired locations is often a problem. Frequently insulation materials are used to insulate remote locations such as attics and interior wall spaces. Delivery to these remote locations is especially a problem.
In the process of dispensing and delivering insulation materials, several steps are required. First, the material is usually supplied in bags in which the material is somewhat compacted. Since loose and expanded material insulates better than compacted material, it is necessary to break up or separate the compacted, bag material into an expanded condition. Second, it is necessary to regularly dispense the material which has been broken up and separated. Finally, it is necessary to regularly deliver the dispensed material to a remote location where insulation is needed. The above steps are made more difficult by the abrasive nature of some insulation material, especially glass fiber and rock wool materials.
The equipment used in the past for processing insulation material from bags to remote locations generally requires a blower device. One such blower device is shown in U.S. Pat. No. 3,529,870 to Woten. The Woten insulating machine has a hopper into which the compacted materials from bags is poured. A paddle wheel rotates inside the hopper to breakup the insulation material into a less compacted state. An auger rotates at the bottom of the hopper to move the material which has been broken up by the paddle wheel over a feeder mechanism. A stuffer bar rotates in this feeder mechanism to stuff the material supplied by the auger into an air lock. The air lock has separate compartments which rotatingly move the stuffed material into an airstream. This airstream is created by a blower, the outlet of which is connected to the air lock. The air lock is necessary to maintain the pressure created by the blower as the insulation material is passed into the airstream. The insulation material enters the airstream and is blown through a hose to a desired remote location.
Another type of blowing device is shown in U.S. Pat. No. 3,995,775 to Birkmeier. The Birkmeier invention is restricted solely to cellulosic insulation materials. This cellulosic blowing machine has a vertically disposed cylindrical hopper. At the bottom of the hopper is a set of rotating arms. These rotating arms move the material around the bottom of the hopper and somewhat break up the material in the process of passing the material over a suction engrance. This entrance is disposed in the lower wall of the hopper and is connected to the inlet of a centrifugal pump. The outlet of the pump is connected to a hose, allowing the cellulosic material to be blown to a desired remote location. Thus, the cellulosic material is blown directly through and by means of the centrifugal pump. One reason this invention is restricted solely to cellulosic insulation material is the fact that it is being passed through the centrifugal pump. The prior art has regarded the abrasion created by glass fiber or mineral wool as prohibiting the passage of such material through a centrifugal pump.
In fact, is has long been thought that machines which are suitable for delivering glass fiber or mineral wool are not suitable for delivering cellulosic insulation. As stated in Column 1, lines 12-16 of the Birkmeier patent, "It has been found that insulation delivery machines which are used, for examples (sic), to deliver glass fiber insulation or mineral wool insulation are generally not acceptable for use in delivering cellulosic insulation." As stated before, the abrasiveness of rock wool and fiberglass creates part of this problem. In addition to the difference in abrasion, it is also well known that cellulosic insulation materials differ from the rock wool and glass fiber insulation materials in their degree of separability. Rock wool is more difficult to separate into discrete and less dense segments than is the cellulosic material.
In designing devices for dispensing and delivering insulation materials, yet another problem has been dispensing a uniform quantity of material into the blowing device. Because fibrous material is loose and yet adhesive, it tends to clog or bunch up. When this happens, the insulation ability of the material is reduced. Also, when clogging and bunching occur, the blower operates without insulation material passing therethrough. This is an inefficient operation of the blower. In extreme circumstances, the insulation material clogs or bridges completely halting the process until the machine is manually unclogged.
As shown by the Woten and Birkmeier patents, the devices for dispensing and delivering insulation material have ranged from very complicated machines such as the Woten machine, to simpler machines such as the Birkmeier machine. The complicated machines have been suitable for rock wool or fiberglass type materials, while the simpler machines have been used for cellulosic materials. None of these machines, however, have been able to dispense and deliver all types of fibrous insulation material in an efficient and simple manner.